Services Experiment with Moving Target Training

30 Sep 2013

Marine Corps and Army officials want to upgrade marksmanship training by collecting data and figure out the best way to introduce moving targets.

It's been clear for awhile, especially the past ten years of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, the military needs to introduce more realistic marksmanship training that includes moving targets to better mimic what troops see on the battlefield. However, adding those targets have hit roadblocks.

Military.com reporter Matthew Cox got a first hand look at Quantico Marine Base, Va., last week at the latest training techniques the services are experimenting with as part of the effort to get those moving targets on training ranges.

The Marine Corps Warfight Laboratory is working alongside the Army’s Asymmetric Warfare Group as officials from both groups try to figure out the best training modules and what targets the Defense Department should consider buying.

"The Sept. 16-27 experiment had a handful of Marine instructors from The Basic School here practicing a series of techniques for hitting moving targets while shooting from the prone, kneeling and standing positions with M4 carbines and the service’s M27 Infantry Automatic Rifle.

"They used the tracking method, which involves leading the target before shooting at it. Marines also practiced using the ambush method, which calls for picking a fixed point in front of a moving target and firing as it moves into it.

""The third technique is known as the swing through method. The newer technique has the shooter begin firing at the rear edge of the target, moving the muzzle forward to the front while continuing to fire.

"The experiment also involved Marines firing in semiautomatic and three-round burst modes from the M4, and full auto from the M27."